Soundbites: The Week in Audio - 04.08.17

This week’s blog takes a look at Joey Barton's recent transfer to the airwaves, Spotify taking new steps in podcasting and a surprise hit from Podcast Pick of the Week, plus much, much more!

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The second football signing of the new season for UK Radio has been announced. We previously spoke about how former England and current Stoke city striker Peter Crouch began his 2 week stint at Radio X, standing in for Gordon Smart. Now, Joey Barton is making the headlines again this year, but under better circumstances. The midfielder is returning to talkSPORT, joining Adrian Durham and Ray Parlour for the station’s flagship Saturday afternoon show, Matchday Live.

The domestic obsessive goddess, the maternal nurturer, the alluring sex object, the unattainable ideal body - just to name a few of the many stereotypes that women have to undergo when being portrayed in advertising. Three-quarters of UK women claim they find the way women are generally portrayed in advertising to be stereotypical. New reports released by UM London, asked among 2,000 Brits, aged 13 and over, on how they find women to be portrayed in advertising.

Spotify has taken the required first steps in chasing down Apple for the crown of podcasting with their 'new podcast initiative'. The no. 1 paid music streaming service has begun devoting more resources to areas other than music. As regularly mentioned on this blog, podcasts are in a field growing faster than wheat after a spring shower, but this market is still dominated by Apple Inc. Spotify has agreed to promote podcasts in its app and via ads on buses. In return, the popular hosts of “Reply All” from the Gimlet Media Network have agreed to talk up Spotify on social media and during their show, keeping in theme with the shows internet subculture interests.

This week's podcast to listen out for is one that I stumbled across when doing the very common practice of searching for a favourite comedian or artist on my podcasting app. When (surprisingly) I came across a podcast hosted by the one and only Alec Baldwin, I was instantly a bit taken aback seeing an A-list actor, famed for films such as, The Departed, The Cooler or more importantly for myself, his portrayal of Jack Donaghy on the sitcom 30 Rock, hosting a podcast, since 2011! His podcast “Here’s The Thing” is a series of intimate and honest conversation with artists, policy makers and performers. His cool and collective demeanour with an added touch of jazz tracks makes for an extremely interesting and engaging take on the 1-on-1 interview format. A few favourites that I have binged on so far are his meetings with, Ira Glass, Jerry Seinfeld and Audra McDonald.

Listen to “Here’s The Thing here or subscribe on whatever podcast app you prefer.